The present invention relates generally to automotive products and, more particularly, to an apparatus for adjusting the camber in the steerable front wheels of a vehicle having an independent front wheel suspension system.
In a conventional independent front wheel suspension system for an automotive vehicle, each wheel is mounted independently of the other. Each rear wheel is rotatably mounted on a wheel spindle which is fixedly bolted to an integrally formed ball joint and wheel knuckle assembly. The wheel knuckle portion of this assembly is in turn bolted to the lower end of an elongate, generally vertically extending shock strut. The upper end of the shock strut is attached to a body side panel, typically by a rubber insulated top mount assembly with attachment bolts. Due to the length and resiliency of the shock strut, the spindle and attached wheel are, to a small degree, displaceable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shock strut and are also torsionally (twistably) displaceable about this axis if otherwise unrestrained. In order to restrain this movement and hold the wheel in a fixed orientation with respect to the vehicle steering assembly, a longitudinally extending restraining member, generally referred to as a tie rod, and a laterally extending restraining member, generally referred to as a control arm, is affixed at one end to the ball joint and wheel knuckle assembly and at an opposite end to the vehicle steering assembly. Due to manufacturing tolerances, etc. in the front wheel assemblies, the "camber" of a wheel in some cases needs adjustment. The "camber" of a wheel refers to the relative angle which the central plane of the wheel makes with a vertical axis extending perpendicular to the surface on which the vehicle is supported. Ordinarily the wheel knuckle in such a front wheel suspension system is fixedly bolted to a pair of laterally extending flanges affixed to a lower end of the strut assembly. In such an arrangement, camber adjustment can only be effected by using the relative "slop" provided between the bolt assembly and the associated bolt holes in the strut flanges and wheel knuckle. However, this "slop" provides very little camber adjustment. In one prior art cam adjustment assembly, a cam bolt assembly which engages factory installed bosses on a strut flange is used to provide camber adjustment. However, most vehicles having the above described type of front wheel suspension system are not provided with such a cam adjustment assembly. It would be generally desirable to provide a cam adjustment assembly which could be easily retrofit on existing vehicles. However, providing bosses on a strut flange of the appropriate strength and tolerances for use with a cam bolt assembly is a very exacting and time-consuming operation which is beyond the skill of most automotive mechanics. Thus, prior to the present invention, there existed no convenient means for retrofitting a front wheel cam adjustment assembly on a vehicle having a front wheel suspension system of the type described above.